Tents, zelts, tarps, hammocks, and the like, which are used outdoors, are made by sewing, for example, a nylon or polyester cloth, and the tensile strengths of a zenith part and a ridge line part running to corners (bottoms) mainly rely on the strength of the cloth (see Non-patent Document 1). Such tents, zelts or tarps are required to be lightweight and compact, and to have durability in environments in which they are used, such as light resistance and water resistance, due to the situations in which they are used. When the tents, zelts and tarps are used, tension must be applied to predetermined areas of the cloth so as to form a roof part and wall parts, and therefore a predetermined tensile strength is required for the cloth (see Patent Document 1 as an example of a trap).
It is difficult, however, to satisfy all of the requirements for the cloth for these tents, zelts or tarps. In other words, if a weight per unit length of the cloth is increased, a tensile strength can be improved, but the cloth is heavy and bulky, and thus the requirements of lightness in weight and compactness cannot be satisfied. On the other hand, if a weight per unit length of the cloth is decreased in order to satisfy the requirements of lightness in weight and compactness, a tensile strength is reduced, and thus the cloth cannot withstand the applications.
For that reason, parts to which tension is applied are stitched with a different tape cloth and doubled, so as to be lightweight and compact, and have a tensile strength satisfied to some extent. Although tapes made of a nylon or polyester cloth have hitherto been used as the different tape, both of them have a large elongation and an insufficient tensile strength, and, problematically, become heavy and bulky if it is intended to ensure the tensile strength. In addition, when the nylon tape is used, a water-repellent treatment is required, because the tape is elongated and the strength is markedly reduced after being wet. Even when parts to which tension is applied are constituted by putting a margin to seam of a cloth on another margin to seam and sewing these margins with stitching, the tensile strength of the cloth itself is not increased, which is insufficient. Also, a conventional tape cloth is sandwiched between margins to seam (overlapped seam, rolled seam, or the like) of cloth, and is sewn with stitching, but, in this case, if the lightness in weight is satisfied, then the tensile strength is insufficient. In addition, the conventional tape cloths are plain weave tapes having dense lattices and no stretch stiffness. If they are sewn with stitching, puckering (shrinkage by sewing) occurs, which is a cause of quality degradation. Therefore, improvements are required.
In the zelt shown in Non-patent Document 1, a rope made of a high-strength polyethylene (a trade name “Dyneema (registered trademark)”) is inserted into several guides placed on parts to which tension is applied of a backing cloth, and is threaded into the backing cloth. In such a case, though the tensile strength in the direction of tension is high, the tensile strength in a direction perpendicular to the direction of tension relies on the strength of the cloth itself because the rope is not sewn throughout the cloth, which lacks balance. Therefore, improvements are required. As the sewing of guides and rope-sewing are highly difficult and thus the working is carefully performed in order to maintain product quality; as a result, it is necessary to improve the production cost as well.